homemade go-kart

[tonyw]

Anyone out there ever built a homemade, wooden go-kart..just the kind for coasting, no motor? I told my son about the one my brother built for me when I was a kid--and of course he wants one too. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks

 

[AV8R62]

If you just plan on coasting , A hard rubber tire will roll easier than a pneumatic tire
and a taller tire will roll easier than a short one .
also some type of a brake can be a very good investment
you don't want to roll into the path of a car or truck even if you are only moving 2 mph.

 

[tonyw]

thanks for the input...yep, a brake is on the list. Even though we live away from any public roads, it would be good for him to keep from crashing into a dtitch or tree!

 

[MossRoad]

Try doing a search at google for soap box derby car plans. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[gator]

Tony,
Attached is a crude plan of the way my brother and I made them a bunch of years ago. The axles are held on by thru holes and nails or screws. You want the front axle to be wide so it can have a fairly tight turning radius. We used our feet for brakes on a paved road, mom was always getting mad cause we went through shoes so quick! The wheels are mounted to the axles with thru holes and bent nails and washers.
We used to have neighborhood drag races with these, no-one ever beat me pushing my little brother. We used to take a produce box with the holes in the side of it, and mount it on the front open side down, put a cut out milk carton on top for a blower, and paper towel tubes out the holes on the sides for exhaust pipes.
Man this brings back some memories. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Hope this gives you some ideas.

 

[PineRidge]

Tony that sounds like a story for the Red Rider club. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[tonyw]

Thanks a lot, Gator! I haven't been on the computer in a few days--sorry for the late reply, but the plans look great...now, I just need some time off work to build it...cough, cough...I think I feel a cold coming on /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[tonyw]

thanks for the help...I had tried everything else but "soap box derby"!
thanks to everyone else for your ideas!

 

[TheKid]

Those plans look a lot like the go-karts my brother I an used to build. When we got a little older and had a few more bucks we motorized them. Added a motor to a hindged board on the back and bolted a pully to one rear wheel. All it had for a clutch was a loose fan belt. When you wanted to go, you pressed down on a stick which would raise the board and engine which tightened the fan belt.

One thing we did learn the hard way was that we needed some type of stop on the front axle to keep the wheels from jaming against the side frame when making a sharp turn. When it jamed at high speed it would launch you right out of the cart.

 

[tonyw]

"When it jamed at high speed it would launch you right out of the cart." Hmm...sounds like the makings of a good "America's Funniest Home Videos" clip!

 

[TheKid]

I'm dating myself, but back then it would have been called "America's Funniest Home Movies".

Between the wipe outs on the go-kart and from skate boards made from a piece of plywood and an old metal wheeled roller skate I could have been rich by now.

 

[Richard]

If you make one and add a steering wheel...

When I was young, I acquired an old soap box derby racer. The steering cable had broken and I replaced it with a new one. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Feeling all studly with my mechanical accomplishment, I went roaring down the hill (the street in front of house, which was quite common for us neighbors to do back then /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif )

Hmm.. steered kinda funny... seems I turned left and it went right, I turned right and it went left /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

I'd wrapped the cable backwards around the steering column and made for a very interesting navigation down the hill, having to steer "backward" to my intended direction of travel. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Richard

PS, the brake on it was some kind of foot operated thing that when pushed, caused another part to extend down to the road, making contact with road to stop. The part that HIT the road, had a square section of old tire screwed/nailed to it, so that the rubber of the tire did all the work.

 

[tonyw]

THeKid, you're not too, too old...I recall our home movies being shot on an 8 mm camera! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[tonyw]

Richard, What have I started?! I never realized how popular those wooden scooters must've been...way back when!
thanks for the story... reversing the steering sounds like something I might've done. Isn't it amazing how many of us actually survived our childhood!?

 

[Soundguy]

A friend and I built a small motorized racer years ago.. seems to that we used a chainsaw engine with centrifugal clutch. drive was a chain around a drive sprocket near one rear wheel. Brakes were actually pretty neat. We welded ( he welded.. I have only just recently learned to weld.. ) a spare tire hub on to the axle, and used a belt.. leather or rubber converyor belting, wrapped around the wheel, going to a pedal operated cam, using a 1/4 inch steel rod for linkage. Pressing the brake pedal, cammed the linkage over, and drew the belt around the rim, stopped pretty good. An earlier version merely had a round metal drum.. cut from some 4" od pipe.. we found that sometimes the belt/brake would come off.. then you were scr*w*d... instead of adding lips to the pipe drum.. we used an old rusty rim of similar diameter to the front/rears... worked great.. belt never came off.
Stopping was good EXCEPT when it got wet..( mudpuddle ) then brakes went out, a sthe leater spun on the bare metal drum.

Our final improvement to the brakes was taking a strip of bias ply tire ( dating myself here... ) and ?riviting it to the rim.. so the leather strap pulled against tire....worked excelent.. though wore the leather good.. that was when we went to a conveyor belt strap that went around the hub.. etc...

By then I think we had also swapped out the power unit with a small gas motor from a roto tiller that actually had a cable operated clutch... very very nice... cable was also routed to a foot pedal using a long choke line as I remember...

That was fun.. untill the clutch cable broke once...

That was when we then added a 'kill' switch the operator could pull to kill the engine. Up untill then, this thing was more or less a team operated deal, as you wanted to be setting in it and have someone else start it, etc, as even the first generation with the chainsaw clutch wanted to freewheel a bit. ahh.. the memories.
Now that I've been remembering this, and with the thread about the other guy building a tractor.. now I feel like tinkering again.... wifes gonna kill me..

Soundguy

 

[PhilNH5]

We used to build them similar to Richards plan when I was a kid. It was always with scrounged materials. One year we had only an old skate and a bicycle for parts. The Bike wheels went on the back and the little tiny skate wheels went on the front. Looked kinda' like a wooden drag racer and we deemed it our neatest one yet.

We would come screaming down a large hill in the mountains of central PA. A lookout stood at the bottom to tell you if it was safe to start meaning there was no traffic coming. We had a lever brake but did not intentionally want to tangle with an automobile.

We had many successful launches until one run were a skate wheel came off. Since the skate wheels were at the steering end this led to a major crash. Also as it was summer time we were all just in shorts. During the course of the crash the skate wheel that came off landed on my brothers chest.
Back then the skate wheels were steel. Friction had heated this one to an appreciable degree. My brother had a perfectly round burn impression of the skate wheel smack in the middle of his chest.
As crushed as we were by the untimely demise of our dragster the doughtnut shaped burn on my brothers lightened our spirits. Well everybody but him.

Aww memories.

Phil

 

[tonyw]

I'm glad we're using rubber tires instead of metal skate wheels--ouch! Hopefully, I will soon get around to this project so my son will have some good--homemade--memories like mine--and maybe some funny stories too. Although, I think I'll try making his coaster a little safer than mine was! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif